Happy in Honolulu

Not many people have a better address than us tonight - we are right beside the Aloha Tower, in the centre of downtown Honolulu, for the first of three days here. We've seen so much today - first went up to the Pali Cliffs, in the middle of the island, to see the incredible views (although the wind nearly blew our eyelids off!) - then we headed for Pearl Harbour, where we visited the Arizona Memorial ... a very thought-provoking place, although we ended up walking out of the (almost) obligatory introductory movie as we felt that perhaps, just perhaps, SOME indication should have been made that other people beside the Yanks fought in WWII !!

After that we headed across to the eastern side of the island, through a tunnel under the really impressive mountains, and northwards towards the surf beaches. There was a little wave at the Pipeline and at Sunset Beach, but we've been astounded at the flat seas - we're told that the big waves come in winter. It must be hell to be here then though - even now the waves cross the 2 metres (maximum!) of sand and hit against people's front fences or the very edge of the highway - what must it be like with huge waves??

We saw a huge Green Turtle on a beach, visited a ranch for lunch (tough beef spareribs!) and went to a macadamia outlet (they do admit to macadamias being from Queensland, though most American tourists don't believe them) and the huge Dole pineapple plantation. To our horror, they were selling pineapples for US$7.96 each - smaller than the ones we buy near Coolum at 3 for AU$2.00!! Food in Hawaii is dreadfully expensive - most things seem to cost as much per pound as we'd pay for a kilo! Fortunately, we're not buying much - we're so well fed on the ship that the thought of other food seems indecent!

Almost all of our fellow passengers leave tomorrow - but we have another 12 days, which pleases us. We plan to visit Waikiki tomorrow, and to visit the world-renown Bishop Museum on Monday, courtesy of a botanist who works there, but came out to work in Brisbane some years ago.

We've just heard about the AFL grand final - thanks Belinda! - there's no news that ain't Am-errrr-ican here!!